Apparatus to manufacture particulate thermoplastic resinous material

Claim 1

APPARATUS ADAPTED TO MANUFACTURE PARTICULATE THERMOPLASTIC RESINOUS MATERIAL COMPRISING IN COOPERATIVE COMBINATION MEANS TO SUPPLY A CONTINUOUS STREAM OF A HEAT PLASTIFIED THERMOPLASTIC RESINOUS MATERIAL, A ROTOR COMPRISNG A GENERALLY CIRCULAR BODY DEFINING AN INTERNAL CAVITY, A PLURALITY OF CIRCUMFERENTIAL PASSAGEWAYS, THE PASSAGEWAYS PROVIDING A MEANS OF COMMUNICATION BETWEEN THE CAVITY AND THE PERIPHERY OF THE ROTOR, MEANS TO ROTATE THE ROTOR AT A SPEED SUFFICIENT TO CAUSE MELT FRACTURE OF THE THERMOPLASTIC RESINOUS MATERIAL WHEN SUPPLIED TO THE CAVITY OF THE ROTOR IN HEAT PLASTIFIED FORM AN ENCLOSURE CONTAINING THE ROTOR, THE ENCLOSURE SO CONSTRUCTED AND ARRANGED SO AS TO RETAIN THE PARTICLES OF THERMOPLASTIC RESINOUS MATERIAL GENERATED THEREIN, MEANS TO FORWARD PARTICULATE THERMOPLASTIC RESINOUS MATERIAL FROM THE ENCLOSURE TO A HEAT TREATING APPARATUS, THE HEAT TREATING APPARATUS COMPRISING IN COOPERATIVE COMBINATION A HEATING ZONE ADAPTED TO RECEIVE THE THERMOPLASTIC RESINOUS MATERIAL, HEAT THE SURFACE THEREOF TO A MOLTEN STATE AND CAUSE CONTRACTION OF THE PARTICLES TO A GENERALLY SPHERICAL FORM A COOLING ZONE ADJACENT TO THE HEATING ZONE, THE COOLING ZONE ADAPTED TO RECEIVE PARTICLES FROM THE HEATING ZONE AND COOL THE SURFACES THEREOF BELOW THE THERMOPLASTIC TEMPERATURE.